The Source for Art & Law Since 2005

CAA Publishes One-Sided Fair Use Report

The publication, Copyright, Permissions and Fair Use among Visual Artists and the Academic and Museum Visual Arts Communities: An Issues Report, is available here.

It’s a 90-page report, and in my (very) brief overview the report seems one-sided (surprise!), arguing that artists and art historians now live in permission culture hell.

There are a lot of problems with the College Art Association (I’ve blogged about this one before), but what’s more pernicious is how this nonprofit arts organization continues to champion the poverty and ignorance of artists, all while putting the blame on this thing called copyright law. To boot, they add this language, quotations from artists, as persuasive language in the defense of theft.

Artists often also expressed impatience or disregard for the niceties of copyright; some believed that knowing more would inhibit their own creative impulses. “Steal whatever youwant [during the creative process] — you do have to worry about the legal parts later,” said one. “For me to understand copyright law derails me. I shouldn’t have to know everything about this — it would hurt my work,” said another.

Pass the buck I say. Continue to perpetuate the artist as ignorant bohemian dumbass ideology, and while doing so don’t forget to keep charging these same artists membership fees and access to irrelevant art panels that only the desperate attend. Go West, young CAA!

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on Wednesday, January 29th, 2014 at 3:36 pm and is filed under Copyright.
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Comments: 2

That’s like saying,
“i don’t need to know human anatomy to be a doctor”
or
“i don’t need money to start a bank account…”

Is this whole ‘internet generation’ a symptom of very poor schooling? there seems to be very little in the way of critical thought (or just plain ‘ol ‘thinking’ in general) spouted from the rooftops these days…

Audio:
You hit on something important, which is the role that schools/education should play in educating/informing artists of the repercussions of certain actions. The lack of education/awareness, I believe, stems from a continued romanticization of the artist. What’s quite disturbing is that the same educated individuals that perpetuate this romantic notion would simultaneously not support these same artists should they be sued for copyright infringement – both financially and emotionally.

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